Ipswich Town 1 v Charlton Athletic 2

A morale-boosting first away win of the season this afternoon at struggling Ipswich Town. As predicted, when we went for it, we got the goals needed to win the game and I hope Chris Powell has taken note.

Perhaps it was the relative fragility of the opposition or our reshuffled midfield but Kerkar, Stephens, Jackson and Green did much better than we have managed in recent weeks. Green went closest to the first goal hitting the side-netting and Kerkar saw plenty of the ball and was a constant threat down the left. Wright-Phillips had an effort blocked and Leon Cort headed into the side netting as well before Dale Stephens saw a 25 yard drive palmed wide by Scott Loach. In response, Ben Hamer stopped a straight header from Darryl Murphy. The game petered out in the last fifteen minutes of the first-half but it burst to life early in the second.

With their tails clearly up, Charlton opened fire after the break and a strong move down the left saw Wilson feed Kerkar who played it in to Fuller for Wright-Phillips before Jackson mopped up to score his first goal of the season and remind the doubters of his goal-scoring contribution in the last couple of seasons. Panic set in for the hosts after that and Charlton were rampant. Minutes later, Fuller picked up the ball in a two-on-two and strode past his man before drilling home the second. There were chances for a third but it didn't come and, almost inevitably, Ipswich pulled one back courtesy of a wicked deflection of a Jason Scotland effort.

To be fair to the lads, it sounded like they didn't buckle and held their own after that although Ellington came close in the five minutes of added time. The league table will make much more comfortable reading after this win and we should have a good go at Blackburn and Watford in the next ten days.

I understand Yann Kermorgant was absent today through injury in training on Thursday and was on crutches at the training ground yesterday. Hopefully nothing more than bad bruising because Fuller could have down with a rest at the end and a fired-up Kermy might have given Ipswich bigger problems. Danny Haynes was sub again today and when fully fit is another strong substitute. We might just have four capable strikers at this level if we can keep them all fit and play a more adventurous game. That might make our season.

Off to open a good bottle of red to celebrate this and winning £365 on a Charlton, Brighton, Wolves away treble. Lovely jubbly.